(make sure you have permission for any models/buildings/etc that are visible.)

iStockPhoto

reasons photos and art, royalty free

if you find an artist you like there, go to their website, because they may have other work not on iStockPhoto.

Be aware there are commercial and private fonts: you need to make sure you have the correct rights for commercial use.

Some cover artists do the entire cover including titles, etc, some only do the art.

Publisher’s Weekly, Library Journal. Need 3-4 month lead time for ARCs to get reviews.

Your cover art should look good even icon sized: because most people are shopping online.

Some small presses will still allow you to keep your e-book rights. If so, it’s a great deal, because you can sell a kindle book and keep 70%.

Q:

I’m self-publishing, trade paperback, and I want to keep the price under $10. So I have a pretty slim POD margin, less than my kindle version. And it’s worse even it it’s sold through a bookstore other than Amazon: then I get about 5 cents.

Any tips on how to get the cost down, or conversely, is there a cross-over point at which it makes sense to do a limited print run to get the cost down?